Question

Comprehend the passage and answer the given questions :
Then going on, he presently met a ragged man and exchanged clothes
with him. And so having divested himself of all worldly entanglements, he
was free to pursue his search after wisdom. He made his way southward
to a resort of hermits and teachers in a hilly spur running into Bengal
northward from the Vindhya mountains close to the town of Rajgir. There
a number of wise men lived in caves, going into the town for their simple
supplies and imparting their knowledge by word of mouth to such as cared
to come to them.
The Indian mind had always been disposed to believe that power and
knowledge may be obtained by extreme asceticism, by fasting, sleeplessness
and self-torment, and these ideas now Gautama put to the test. He betook
himself with five disciple companions to the jungle in a gorge in the Vindhya
mountains and there he gave himself up to fasting and terrible penances. His
fame spread, like the sound of a great bell hung in the canopy of the skies.
But it brought to him no sense of truth achieved. One day he was walking
up and down, trying to think in spite of his enfeebled state. Suddenly he
staggered and fell unconscious. When he recovered, the preposterousness of
these semi-magic ways of attaining wisdom was plain to him. - H. G. Wells
Questions :
45. What does extreme ascetism imply?
46. Describe the natural surroundings of the place where the hermits lived. Where
in this place did Gautama go with his disciples ?
47. Why must Gautama have found fasting and self-torment "preposterous'?
48. According to the passage, what hinders the attainment of wisdom ?
​

Answer 1

Answer:

45. extreme ascetism imply obtaining knowledge by fasting,sleeplessness and self torment.

46.the hermits lived in a hilly spur in Vindhya mountains and they lived in caves.Gautam went to a jungle in the gorge in the Vindhya mountains with his five disciple companions.

47.Because it brought to him a sense of no truth achieved.When he was walking up and down he staggered and fell unconscious.

48. The semi-magic ways like fasting and self-torment hinders the attainment of wisdom.